Metal Gear Solid: World on Fire
by 13en-writes-all
Summary: When Naruto Uzumaki is captured in Tajikistan, Tsunade of the PMC Konoha hires Sasuke Uchiha to find, and save him. Sasuke has been off the grid for several years trying to understand why he has become disillusioned with himself. After finding Naruto, the two of them discover a vast conspiracy that will take them half way across the world. Rated M for my usual reasons
1. Birth of a Snake

**Part 1 – The Birth of a Snake…**

Somewhere in the Mediterranean, near Crete, March 2nd, 2024…

Lady Tsunade, Commander of the PMC Konoha sat in her office with her Second-in-Command Kakashi Hatake watching the video that was sent to them which looked like it had been water-boarded, buried in the sand, pulled out, and used to play football.

On the screen was their best soldier, Naruto Uzumaki held hostage, the barrel of an AK-103 pressed into the back of his head, "No attempts have been made to free the brothers held hostage by the American and British Dogs," Naruto said, "Cowards, you make me fucking laugh," he was then struck across the forehead with the butt of another AK, causing blood to explode from his forehead, his captors screamed at him to read the rest, "If they are not released within one week, they will kill me."

The camera then cut, "This video was swabbed for prints, there's absolutely no prints on it that belong to any members of the Akatsuki anywhere on it," Tsunade said, "You sure this is their work?"

"Naruto was tracking an Akatsuki lead when he went missing," Kakashi said, "Right now though, he's stuck inside some abandoned Soviet Base in Tajikistan, and probably being tortured half to death. We need to get him out, now."

"Who's left?" Tsunade asked.

"No one can take the job," Kakashi said, "They're off where we deployed them. Naruto however left something behind in his locker," he pulled out a small file, and handed it to Tsunade who opened it to reveal the file of a former U.S. Army Soldier, the soldier was six foot three, Caucasian/Japanese mix, had spikey black hair, onyx black eyes, and his left arm had been replaced with a synthetic one, "Sergeant Sasuke Uchiha, formerly of the 75th Ranger Regiment, 2nd Battalion, five years' service history, Iraq, Afghanistan, Baltic Sea, Ukraine. Silver Star, Bronze Star, Presidential Unit Citation, Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart, and also the youngest Army Ranger ever to receive the Medal of Honor."

"I've heard of him," Tsunade said, "Some say he was the best, right behind Big Boss Snake himself. He's listed here as retired?"

"No one knows how he was discharged," Kakashi said, "Some say he quit, others say the Brass were tired of his heroics, and fired him. But as I said, no one really knows. Ever since then he's been off the grid for the past four years."

"This is who Naruto wants to rescue him?" Tsunade asked.

"Our hands are tied," Kakashi said, "We have no choice but to trust him."

"Where is he now?" Tsunade asked.

An isolated Japanese Island near Kōzu-shima…

Sasuke stood in front of his opponent, and the two bowed to each other.

His opponent charged first, unleashing a fury of punches which Sasuke quickly blocked, and kicked his opponent back.

His opponent jumped to his feet, and charged.

He came at Sasuke with a flying jump kick which Sasuke used, grabbing his opponent's leg, he used the momentum to throw him across the room.

The man went headlong into the wall, and collapsed onto the floor, completely unconscious.

The leader of the dojo clapped as he walked up to Sasuke, "Well done Sasuke," he said as Sasuke bowed to him, "Top of the class, now come, there is something I want to show you."

Sasuke followed his master to the center of the temple where upon entering, he poured them each a cup of Japanese Hojicha Tea.

As the shōjis (Japanese sliding doors) were closed, Sasuke's mentor passed Sasuke the tea cup, "It has been a while since we've had tea master." Sasuke said.

"You came here to forget your past," the teacher said as they swigged back their tea, "I told you that you would eventually find your way back. You have become my best student."

"And you my best teacher," Sasuke said, "You have taught me the Seven Virtues of Bushido, and I have taken them to heart."

"Then repeat them to me," the teacher said, "What is Gi?"

"Integrity," Sasuke said, "Warriors make a full commitment to their decisions."

"Rei?" The teacher asked.

"Respect," Sasuke said, "The true strength of a warrior becomes apparent during difficult times."

"Yu?" The teacher asked.

"Courage," Sasuke said, "Heroic courage is not blind: it is intelligent and strong."

"Meiyo?" The teacher asked.

"Honor," Sasuke said, "You cannot hide from yourself."

"Jin?" The teacher asked.

"Compassion," Sasuke said, "If an opportunity does not arise, you find one."

"Makoto?" The teacher asked, placing a box in front of him.

"Honesty," Sasuke said, "Speaking and doing are the same action."

"And finally, Chu?" The teacher asked.

"Loyalty," Sasuke said, "To everyone that you are responsible for, they remain equally responsible."

"Very good," the teacher said as he picked up the box in front of him, "I have something for you," he opened the box to look inside, and the closed it, "My mentor was given this by his master, and his master gave it to him. Now I'm giving it to you, my greatest student," he bowed, and handed the box to Sasuke who bowed as he took it.

Inside the box was a nine inch knife, "A Tantō," Sasuke asked as he unsheathed the knife, "It's beautiful, but I don't recognize the make."

"This Tantō was made for my ancestor by a swordsmith named Gorō Nyūdō Masamune." The teacher said.

Sasuke looked up at his master, Gorō Masamune is considered the greatest swordsmith in Japanese History, "Thank you master," Sasuke said, "This is a gift I will not let go to waste."

"You will have plenty of time to use it," The teacher said, "Your journey is not over yet," Sasuke looked at his master, "I was contacted yesterday by a Mr. Hatake."

"Kakashi Hatake?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes," The teacher said, "One of your brothers is in trouble. They want you on the first flight to their base."

"They want me to join their PMC?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes." The teacher said.

"Am I ready master?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes." The teacher said.

Sasuke nodded, the two stood up, and walked out at separate entrances.

Sasuke went back to his room to see that his possessions had been packed up, ready to go.

Sasuke placed the box with his main possessions, and got dressed in the clothes he got when he arrived, his military boots, a pair of Wrangler premium denim jeans, a black tee-shirt, and a leather bomber's jacket.

He threw his bag over his shoulder, and walked out the dojo's door to see his brothers bowing to him.

As he walked down to the dock, he saw a Hacker-Craft Runabout, a six-foot Japanese male with loose black hair, pale skin, and onyx black eyes.

"Sergeant Uchiha?" He asked.

"Yes." Sasuke said.

"Sai," he said as he held out his hand which Sasuke shook, "Commander Hatake and Colonel Tsunade are waiting for us."

Sasuke stepped into the back of the boat, and placed his bag on the seat next to him.

Sai took his seat in the driver's seat, and started the speedboat forward.

It took about four hours to get back to the mainland, and when they arrived, a Range Rover Evoque luxury edition was waiting for them.

It was a thirty minute ride to a nearby airfield where upon entering the gate, a Gulfstream G650ER was waiting for them.

As they entered, there were two others inside, the first, a tall Caucasian male, about six foot two with auburn brown eyes, and a black, flat-top hairstyle, the M9A3 Beretta identified him as ex-MARSOC.

The second, a shorter Japanese male, about five foot ten, black eyes, and a hairstyle that makes you think every-time he goes to his barber he asks, 'Can you make me look like a caricature of my ethnicity please?' By the looks of him, the Glock 19 holstered at his hip was a dead giveaway he was ex-Force Recon.

"Ex-Marines," Sasuke said as he sat down, "Interesting."

"I have to say, it's a pleasure," the ex-Force Recon said as he held out his hand, "Private First Class Rock Lee."

"Shino Aburame." the ex-MARSOC said.

"Mind if I smoke," Sasuke asked as he pulled out an electronic cigar.

"Not at all," Shino said as he held out an iDroid, "Need a lite?"

"No need," Sasuke said as he held up his prosthetic hand, snapped which caused a small flame to appear above his thumb, and the cigar came to life.

Twelve hours later, the plane was flying just above the Mediterranean, "So where's this fantastic base?" Sasuke asked.

"We're right over it," Shino said as he pounded on the entrance to the cockpit, "Hang on."

The engines then cut, folded inward, and then the entire plane nose-dived into the ocean.

As they went under the waves, Sasuke could see the base was a group of about six oil-rig looking platforms underneath a large glass dome.

"Impressive isn't it?" Shino asked.

"Indeed." Sasuke said.

The plane flew into a small docking port inside the base, when they stepped off, Sasuke, Shino, Sai, and Lee were greeted by Tsunade and Kakashi who were standing at the entrance to the base.

The three saluted Tsunade and Kakashi, "Sasuke Uchiha?" Tsunade asked.

"Yes," Sasuke said, "You must be Madame Tsunade."

"Indeed," Tsunade said, "Come with us please."

As Sasuke followed Tsunade and Kakashi through the base, he noticed that a lot of people were looking at him, his reputation was second to Snake and his father, but then again he was trained by Raiden who was just as good as Snake.

As they entered Tsunade's office, and took their seats, a five foot two female with long, flowing bubblegum pink hair, and emerald green eyes.

"This is Naruto's handler," Tsunade said as she pointed at the woman, "And Konoha's resident medical wizard, Sakura Haruno."

Sasuke thought Sakura was hot as hell, and as the feeling was mutual with Sakura.

"Honor," Sasuke said as he held out his hand which Sakura shook.

"Now," Tsunade said, "Take your seats."

Tsunade played the recording for Sasuke, at the end, she turned toward him, and spoke, "This was sent directly to us from a former Soviet base located in Tajikistan," Tsunade said as Sasuke expelled the smoke from his cigar, "We have one week, but that usually means not a lot of time. Why did he choose you to come save him?"

"He's my best friend," Sasuke said as he put the cigar back in his mouth to take a puff, "We grew up together," he removed the cigar, and exhaled the smoke, "We went to school all the way to collage, we were even fraternity brothers. When we joined the military to pay for our collage, he went with the Marines, I went with the Army. We went on several missions together, but we haven't spoken since I left the Army."

"Think you can rescue him?" Kakashi asked.

"You mean how long would it take," Sasuke asked as he put out the cigar, "I can rescue him alright. But if you want it done right, no witnesses, just," he snapped, and opened his hand, "Gone, back here? It'll take a week, but we don't have that time, do we?"

"No," Tsunade said, "How fast can you do it?"

"Fast," Sasuke asked, "As in sending me in blind? I can be there and back with him in twenty four hours. But I'd need six other men, two assault rifles, two LMGs, a sniper rifle, and an SMG."

"Can you do it in a week?" Tsunade asked.

"Yes," Sasuke said, "But I'll still need a few things," he then turned toward Tsunade, "And a few men."

"You can take Shino and Lee," Tsunade said, "And a few others, you ship out for Tajikistan tonight."

"I'll do it," Sasuke said, "But you have to show me what I'm taking in."

"Wouldn't have it any other way," Tsunade said as she stood up, followed by everyone else in the room, "Follow me."

The four followed Tsunade down to the toy chest, the base's gadget room which was developing various weapons, vehicles, and armors.

"Meet our resident armorer," Tsunade said as she walked up to a female soldier wearing a white coat, blood-red pants, and U.S. issued military boots, "This is Tenten," Tenten looked up, and removed her welding glasses, "Tenten this is…"

"I know who this is ma'am," Tenten said as she wiped her hands on her pants, and held her hand out to Sasuke, "Sergeant Uchiha."

Sasuke shook it, "I'm familiar with your work," Sasuke said, "Some say you can make a gun out of scrap metal, wood, and a rubber band in one hour."

"I've actually learned to do it in half an hour," Tenten said, "It's an honor to meet you," Tenten then looked at Tsunade, "You hired him?"

"No," Tsunade said, "He's here to help us get Naruto back. You're outfitting him."

"It'd be an honor," Tenten said as she gestured toward the back of the room, "This way please."

As they walked through, Sasuke noticed they were creating a lot of interesting guns, 'frankenguns' if you would: a G36C with an AKMS wire-stock, and vise-versa with the AKMS.

"This is what you'll be taking with you to Tajikistan," Tenten said as she held up a small iDroid, "The latest iDroid. Camera, 3D map projector, x50 zoom lens, x-ray document scanner, and a built-in satellite radio."

"I'm impressed," Sasuke said as he took the iDroid from Tenten's hand, and slid it in his pocket.

"Also," Tenten said as she pulled out an M1911A1, "Standard-issue sidearm, and I even built in a suppressor."

Sasuke took the 1911, ejected the magazine, checked the slide, then raised it to point at the wall behind Tenten, and pulled the trigger, a perfect 'chink' as the hammer hit the firing pin.

"Beautiful," Sasuke said, "What kind of bullets am I taking?"

"I made these myself," Tenten said as she pulled out a box of bullets, and opened them, pointing to a row of bullets with a needle-tip, "Tranquilizer bullets, can take down a fully-grown man with one shot," she moved to a row of bullets with a sharp white tip, "Explosive-tip darts, there's a piece of C4 in the tip the size of a pee," she then moved to the final row, "And your standard .45 ACP rounds in case you want to get dirty."

"Very nice." Sasuke said.

"Next we have something incredible," Tenten said as she reached under the table, and pulled out a small sealed box, "I just put the finishing touches on this just yesterday," she pulled out a Solid Eye, "My own version of the Solid Eye used by Solid Snake back in 2014. I've added a few upgrades of my own along with a few different modes like sonic, thermal, and x-ray."

"Bullshit," Sasuke said as he took the Solid Eye, placed it against his left eye, and switched through the visions, "This thing doesn't have," Sasuke switched over, and switched to x-ray, getting a view of Sakura's cherry-red Victoria Secrets strapless Dream Angle bra, and cherry-red Cotton Lingerie Lace-Waist thong, "Oh…" Sasuke tightened the strap on the Solid Eye, and looked at Tenten, "It does, nice feature. What else you got?"

"This is something I'm particularly proud of," Tenten said as she went under the table, and pulled out a weapon's case, she opened it, and inside was a heavily customized AKM with a UTG quad rail mount, ERGO rail covers, and an Aimpoint sight with a 3x Aimpoint magnifier, "Try it out," she held it out to Sasuke who took it without hesitation.

"Kalashnikov AKM," Sasuke said as he racked the action, "7.62x39mm rounds, UTG rails, ERGO rail covers," he then raised the rifle to his shoulder to look down the sights, "Aimpoint sights, very nice."

"It's specially modified to shoot either full metal jacket or rubber bullets," Tenten said, "You can go full or semi-auto."

"Suppressible?" Sasuke asked.

"Absolutely," Tenten said, "I have made a very special suppressor for this one," she took out a small suppressor as big around as a shot glass, as tall as a coke can, and was rifled to increase bullet-spin.

"Impressive," Sasuke said, "Anything else?"

"Yes," Tsunade said, "One more thing to complete the look," Tsunade pulled a swatch of black fabric out of her back pocket, and walked up in front of Sasuke, "Head down please," as Sasuke lowered his head, Tsunade tied the piece of cloth to his head.

As he raised his head, he heard people gasping in awe, "Now you have become death, the destroyer of worlds," Shino said, "You are now the legendary soldier."

On the way to the hanger, everyone started looking at Sasuke who was starting to feel very important.

When they arrived, there was a retrofitted Bell 280-Valor waiting along with their weapons and ammo.

"Sasuke," Sai said as he walked up to Sasuke, "I'll be piloting the Valor to Tajikistan," he held out a small iDroid, "I'd like you to select the landing zone."

"Right there," Sasuke said as he tapped a small area about fifty miles from the village.

"I can do that sir." Sai said.

As the team boarded the chopper, Tsunade walked up to the side-entrance, and looked at Sasuke who leaned down to her, "Ma'am?" Sasuke asked.

"We need for you to remain as undercover as possible," Tsunade said, "You go on this one without a cover, then your family's in danger. So we've decided to give you a codename on this one. From now on, you will forever be known as… Lightning Snake."

"Lightning Snake," Sasuke asked, "Doesn't that violate some kind of Konami copyright law?"

"It's bought and paid for," Tsunade said, "Besides, we've got enough money to pay for the use this one time."

"Good," Sasuke said, "See you on the return trip."

Sasuke stood up, walked over to the seats, and sat next across from Shino as he activated the Solid Eye, as the VTOL took off, Shino could have sworn that he could see Solid Snake himself could be sitting in front of him.

Guess what's next…


	2. Rescue

**Part 2 – The Legend Lives**

Ten hours later, after landing, Sasuke, Shino, and Lee had found themselves in the mountains above a former Bedouin town before the Akatsuki came in, and took over.

"Intel told us that this was the place where they're storing information relating to Naruto's capture," Shino said, "Place was full of friendly Tajikistanis, before the Akatsuki arrived, killed the villagers, and turned it into a variable fortress."

As Shino and Lee stood a close enough to the edge to stand over Sasuke who knelt down as he pulled a cigar that would have given a cameraman hanging off the rock below that perfect-badass-Solid-Snake-like shot that would have netted him $25,000, if he was there.

"The Akatsuki have artillery, anti-air, and machine gun placements," Lee said, "It's impossible to infiltrate this place."

"It's difficult," Sasuke said as he stood up, and turned off the cigar before sliding it into his cigar holder, "But not impossible," Sasuke turned around, and handed Shino the cigar holder, "Hold that for me will you?"

"Wait," Shino said before holding out a small chip, "Put this into your iDroid," Sasuke slid the chip into a small slot on the bottom of his iDroid.

"What is it?" Sasuke asked.

"It's a 2-way hacking chip," Shino said, "Plug that into any computer inside that base, and I can hack it remotely from mine."

"Thanks." Sasuke said.

"How would you do this?" Lee asked.

"Watch." Sasuke said.

Sasuke threw the strap of the AKM Tenten customized around his shoulders, and started down the side of the cliff until he set foot on top of the house underneath the cliff.

The Akatsuki had rigged the village with light set that looked like something the Soviets would set up in an Afghan village during their occupation in the 80s.

Proceeding through the village, Sasuke could see the soldiers were dressed very similarly to the Soviet Soldiers of the 1990s.

As he rounded a corner, he knew he was getting closer to the objective building, right next to the door to the objective was a single Akatsuki soldier standing right next to a dumpster.

Sasuke drew the Tantō, snuck up behind the guard, wrapped his arm around the guy's neck, and stabbed him once through the back, straight into the heart.

As the Akatsuki went limp in his arms, he lifted the lid on the dumpster, and flipped the man into the dumpster.

He walked up to the door, and as he opened it, he found himself right in front of an Akatsuki soldier.

He wasn't the only one, there were three others in the room, and as they all turned, they saw Sasuke entering.

The man standing in front of him acted first by drawing his pistol.

Sasuke was faster however, a quick kick to the groin sent the man forward, Sasuke grabbing the man around the throat, and went to his knees.

The furthest Akatsuki soldier had his rifle, but as he raised it to fire, he realized they had all forgotten to cock their weapons.

Before they could even reach the cocking drives, Sasuke 1911 was out of his holster.

The first shot went right through the furthest soldier's temple, the second hit the middle Akatsuki in the neck, and the third took out the final Akatsuki with a bullet right between the eyes as he raised his weapon to fire.

The forth opened his mouth to shout only to have Sasuke shove him against the wall, and shoved the suppressor of the 1911 into his throat, "I'm going to ask you one question," Sasuke said, "You are going to answer that question in a way I find satisfactory, and if not, I'll splatter your brain all over this wall."

"And if I do answer?" He asked.

"Then you'll live," Sasuke said, "So you can tell your masters what I'm going to do to every Akatsuki I see."

"Who are you?" He asked.

"I'm asking the questions," Sasuke said, "There was an American moved through here, where can I find him?"

"You won't know," he said, "You won't kill me."

"Oh yea," Sasuke said as he covered the man's mouth with his hand, and plunged the Tantō into the man's leg, making him scream in pain, which was muffled by Sasuke's hand, "You want to keep going, you got one more leg?"

As Sasuke removed his hand from the man's mouth, he put his arm against the man's throat, and the blade against his temple, "Ok," he said, "He was taken to Camp Four. They're transfer documents over there," he motioned toward a small desk.

"Thanks," Sasuke said as he racked the slide on his 1911 with one hand, engaged the slide lock, inserted a tranquilizer bullet, hit the slide release, placed the suppressor against the man's chest, "Good night," with one squeeze of the trigger, the man gasped, his mouth started foaming, his eyes closed, and he collapsed unconscious as Sasuke removed the gun.

Sasuke walked over to the desk, and started looking over the various papers on the table before coming across what he was looking for, an entire dossier on Naruto's capture.

Taking out his iDroid, he scanned each individual page of the document, when he finished, he put it back where it was to hear the distinct click of a HK USP .40 S&W Tactical above his left ear.

"Turn around," the man said, as Sasuke turned around, he saw the man had his gun suppressed, "Who are you?"

"I'm the shadow in the night," Sasuke said, "I am the monster under the bed, I am Lightning," Sasuke grabbed the USP, pressing his index finger into the area between the hammer and the firing-pin preventing the gun from firing, drew his 1911, shoved the suppressor into the man's mouth, and pulled the trigger.

As the man faltered to the ground floor, Sasuke looked at the man's USP, ejected the mag, pulled back on the slide, seeing how the amateur did not chamber a round, he removed the slide-release, pulled the slide off the pistol, and tossed the disabled gun on the man's body.

Walking out of the house, he walked back to the area where he climbed down into the base, after climbing back up, Shino offered him a hand, Sasuke accepted the hand, and was pulled back over the cliff's edge.

Sasuke, Shino, and Lee walked back to their vehicle, when Shino asked, "What'd you get?"

"What we need," Sasuke said as they threw the tarp off the top of the Oshkosh JLTV (Joint Light Tactical Vehicle), "Just head west."

As they climbed through the side of the JLTV, Lee got into the driver's seat, while Shino sat in the back seat, and Sasuke next to Lee.

"West?" Lee asked.

"Yes," Sasuke said as he brought up the map on his iDroid, and pointed toward the hilly country two miles to the west, "Camp Four is code for a former Soviet Mountain Base about seven miles that way."

"Let's go then." Lee said.

"How did Naruto get captured," Sasuke asked ten minutes later, "Guy was an enlisted MARSOC soldier?"

"No one knows," Lee said, "Recordings that came in over the radio indicates an ambush. By who though? Like I said, no one knows, when our scrub teams went to clean up the mess they found all six of the men Tsunade sent with him dead. They were highly trained former Navy SEALs and Delta Force Commandos, and it looks like they took shots in every direction but hit nothing, not a single enemy track, and no rifle rounds. They dug bullets out of the soldier's skulls, and found really interesting rounds."

"Interesting how?" Sasuke asked.

"They were shot once in the heat for one thing," Lee said, "Whoever did it used 4.75x35mm caseless ammo. Specially made, no production weapon in the world fires that round."

"There is one," Sasuke said as something early familiar resonated throughout his skull, "It never went into production however."

"What?" Lee asked.

"During my time in the Rangers, the U.S. Army created a special challenge for gun makers around the world," Sasuke said, "To create an inexpensive, but reliable rifle that would fire a round that no one else on the world used. The purpose was to give this rifle to special hit squads to send a message to America's enemies."

"And?" Shino asked as he leaned forward.

"This small Japanese company came up with this specialty rifle and round," Sasuke said, "They called it the _Sumin_."

" _Sumin_ ," Lee asked, "They called it the Nail?"

"Enough about that," Shino said, "How do you know about it?"

"I went with General Jason Clark when he observed it," Sasuke said, "It bared a very close resemblance to the HK G11 while combining the carrying handle from a FAMAS G2 and the extended barrel from an FN FAL. As they explained it, they said that it fired the exact same caliber round that you just described, 4.75x35mm caseless round at a speed of 3,110 feet per second. The person that tested it made a bullseye from 850 feet."

"More than an M4," Shino said, "Why didn't the U.S. buy into the design?"

"A few reasons," Sasuke said, "To fire the caseless round without any flaws, the gun was made a few inches short of being as long as a BAR, was almost as heavy when empty, couldn't be suppressed, you could only fire in semi-auto otherwise the gun would overheat, and by the time all twenty shots were fired, you had to let the gun rest for two and a half minutes before you could load another clip, or you'd burn your hand."

"Now I see," Shino said, "And it fired the exact same round?"

"Yes," Sasuke said, "But I wouldn't know for sure if it's the same gun unless I either get a look at the round or the weapon."

"You might get that chance," Shino said, "If whoever did this knows we're coming after them…"

"Then they could be waiting for us." Sasuke said.

"You got the weapons?" Lee asked.

"In the back," Shino said, "We can get them out when we arrive."

"See that we do," Sasuke said, "But stay in the vehicle until I get back. I'm not going to risk an ambush like that."

Half an hour later, it was well past midnight when they arrived at the area outside the base.

Shino and Lee walked around to the back of the truck, the weapon Shino pulled out of his weapon case was a Remington 870 customized with an Aimtec Warhammer rail system, FAB defense stock and pump, MAGPUL backup sights, and an EOTech Transverse XPS2 Holosight.

The gun Lee had was a CZ Scorpion EVO3 with custom side rail covers, an EOTech Transverse XPS2 Holosight, a vertical handgrip, and a top-mounted laser-sight.

"Alright," Sasuke said as he looked at Shino and Lee, "You know what to do?"

"Wait for you," Shino said as he pumped the action on his shotgun, "We see anyone, shoot first, and ask questions later."

"Good," Sasuke said, "I'm going in to find Naruto. If I'm not back in three hours..."

"Come after you?" Lee asked.

"Yes," Sasuke said before pointing at Shino, "You more than you," switching to Lee.

"Hey!" Lee exclaimed.

"Come on," Shino said, "You know you're a spray and pray-er not an aim and blast."

"I'll assume you're talking about his shooting and not his sex life," Sasuke said, "But either way, I'd prefer the shotgun to the SMG."

"Hey!" Lee exclaimed.

"I'll be right back," Sasuke said as he took off, "Get back in the Oshkosh."

"You could try not to joke about my sex life," Lee said as both him and Shino climbed into the JLTV.

"Why not," Lee asked, "Your sex life is the most hilarious subject in the world."

"Fuck you." Lee said.

As Sasuke approached the cliffs underneath the village, he noticed a small upwards path along the side of the wall, and climbed up the cliff face like Sylvester Stallone in Rambo 3.

As he made his way up the cliff face, he found a small area in the rock right below the exterior exit to the base where he could do a quick round check, he had yet to fire a single round from his AKM, but he had to do a quick magazine exchange on his 1911.

As he continued he quickly jolted back into the cover of the rock, the Akatsuki didn't see him, and continued on his patrol.

Sasuke jumped back onto the cliff, and climbed up onto the rocks, as he looked around, he noticed that the entire base was a simple hill-side town, and according to the document he obtained, Naruto was being held near the upper-right part of town.

As he proceeded along the rocks, he noticed that a lot of the soldiers were dressed the same, and that they were all carrying the same weapons, AK-103s, and none of them could fire a caseless round.

As he arrived above one of the houses he saw two men through the hole in the roof talking, and being fluent in all forms of Mandarin, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Russian, and Japanese he understood what they were saying, but what was weird was they were speaking Japanese.

The first one said in Japanese, "The American better start talking if he knows what's good for him."

"Wonder what he knows." The other replied.

"Hopefully nothing about the Gears." The first said.

Gears, Sasuke really hoped he didn't mean Gekkos, he encountered them during his time in the military, and even commanded a few.

"Where did they come from anyway?" The second asked.

"You didn't see the shipping labels," the first asked, "They came from Kyoto."

Japan, Sasuke thought there might be a connection in the city, he'd have to tell Naruto.

As he moved on, he arrived at the cliff right over the house where the document said Naruto was.

One of the things they taught Sasuke in the Rangers was how to create a fast-line, securing a rope around a large boulder and around the cliff, he threw the line over the edge, threw himself over the edge, and zipped down the line to the ground.

As he arrived at the house, he swung out his AKM, and disengaged the safety, making sure to push the selector all the way down.

On an AKM, the safety lever is designed that when you flip the lever, it goes to semi-auto rather than full-auto, I have no idea what the reason for this is, but then again it's a Russian gun so there might be a good reason, but hell if I know.

As Sasuke entered, he saw two guards standing outside a large steel door, he raised his AKM, and fired twice, double headshots.

He switched the safety on his gun on, and jogged over to the two, finding the keys, he rapidly went through them before finding the right one.

As he opened the door, he saw Naruto sitting on the floor hanging by his wrists by a pair of handcuffs with a bag over his head.

Sasuke jogged over to him, and removed the bag, from the bruises and cuts on his face he could tell that several people went to work in the interrogations, fractured eye socket, split lip, and multiple scratches on his face.

It also appeared he fought back because of the multitude of bruises and cuts on his fists, and they punished him with a gun because of the bullet-hole in his pants.

"If you're going to do it, then do it," Naruto said, "You won't get me to talk."

"No need," Sasuke said, "You don't know shit anyway moron."

Naruto looked up in surprise, at first from the blurriness, he thought Solid Snake was kneeling over him, after the blurriness cleared he saw a face he hadn't seen in years, "Sasuke," he asked, "Is that you?"

"Hey brother," Sasuke said as he placed the suppressor of his 1911 against the chain of the cuffs that held Naruto up, and pulled the trigger.

The chain sheered clean in two, and Naruto's arms fell to his side.

"Can you walk?" Sasuke asked.

"I don't think so," Naruto said as Sasuke wrapped his arms underneath Naruto's, and lifted him to his feet so he could hook his arm around Sasuke's shoulders, "I tried to escape a few days ago, killed a few men, and was about six feet from the door when they got me. Went in and out, and they doctored it, but the bone still hasn't set."

"I wouldn't worry about it," Sasuke said as he walked toward the door to the exit, dragging Naruto with him, "Let's go."

After exiting the entrance, Sasuke saw two soldiers messing around with the rope he set up.

He simply handed his 1911 to Naruto who took aim at the first, while he raised his AKM, taking aim at the second, and they both fired.

"Just like old times," Naruto said as Sasuke walked up to the rope.

"You can't walk, but can you climb?" Sasuke asked.

"Yea," Naruto said as he grabbed the rope, and began climbing.

Sasuke turned around to cover Naruto's climb, when Naruto arrived at the top, he swung the rope around to tell Sasuke to start climbing.

When he arrived at the top, he removed the rope, and threw Naruto onto his shoulder, "Hang on." He said.

"What the hell man," Naruto asked as Sasuke walked over to the edge of the cliff, and started the decent.

"You think you could climb down this wall like this?" Sasuke asked.

"Touché." Naruto said.

It took about one hour to get to the bottom, when they did, Sasuke took off like a shot toward the area where Shino and Lee were waiting.

Lee was sitting behind the driver's seat when he saw Sasuke come running, "Shino," Lee said as he slapped Shino's leg, "There he is," he pointed out the window, "And he's got him!"

"You owe my fifty bucks," Shino said as he opened the door, and ran up to Sasuke.

"I was wondering if you two had left without me." Sasuke said.

"Haven't left you hanging yet," Shino said, "Won't start now."

Shino got back into the JLTV, carrying Naruto with him.

Once Sasuke shut the door, Sasuke jumped into the front seat, and exclaimed, "Punch it!"

With a turn of a key, the JLTV roared to life, he floored the JLTV, spun the vehicle around, and drove away.

Naruto tapped Sasuke on the back of his arm, and extended him his 1911, "Thanks," he said as Sasuke took the gun, and slid it into his holster, "For coming back."

"Hey," Sasuke said as he grabbed Naruto's hand, "I was a Ranger remember? I don't leave men behind. Especially not my best friend."

"We're twelve clicks away from our extraction point," Lee said, "We just have to drive through that mist."

"Mist," Naruto said as he sat up, despite the pain in his leg, and saw a thick grey mist in front of them, "Lee stop the car! Stop the car!"

The JLTV came to a screeching halt, "What?" Lee asked.

"Turn off the truck," Naruto said, "Turn off the truck!"

Lee shut off the truck, "Ok," Lee said, "It's off."

"Sh," Naruto said, "No body move a muscle."

A strange humming noise like a swarm of giant bees passing overhead echoed throughout the area they were in.

"What's going on?" Lee asked.

"Don't move," Naruto said as he froze still as a board, "They can't see us if we don't move," he then changed to a whisper, "And don't speak to loud. They track by movement and sound."

"Whose they?" Sasuke whispered.

"Them," Naruto said as he looked toward several weird bodies moving through the mist like they were walking dead extras going through the worst ear ach of their lives while a cramp was going up and down the entire right or left sides of their bodies.

"Is that them?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes," Naruto said, "That's the unit that took out my squad."

Sasuke saw them get closer, it was as if someone had found a way to reanimate dead flesh, their bodies were grey like corpses, but there was no decay on their skin at all.

"How long?" Sasuke asked.

"Only four minutes," Naruto whispered, "Once they move on, we're in the clear. No sudden movements."

As they walked up to the JLTV, Sasuke noticed the emblem on their armor, he had seen it before.

As the creatures were only two minutes away from leaving a loud ringing resounded throughout the truck which caused the men to shield their ears.

"Alert, alert," Lee's iDroid shouted, "Incoming missile strike."

The creatures heard, and turned toward the JLTV, "DRIVE!" Naruto yelled.

Lee jammed the keys into the ignition, twisted them so fast it was a miracle they didn't snap clean in two, threw the car into drive, and slammed on the gas so hard the pedal would have went through the floor if the floor had been rusted out.

The truck lurched forward as the creatures drew their weapons, Sasuke was right, the creatures were using _Sumin_ rifles.

"DOWN," Sasuke yelled as he pushed Lee against the steering wheel when he saw the creatures draw their rifles.

The bullets tore through the metal of the JLTV like a hot knife through butter.

Once they cleared the mist, a barrage of M270 rockets came raining down on the mist causing quite a large explosion.

Sasuke looked back, and looked at Naruto, "That was them wasn't it?" Naruto asked.

"Yes," Sasuke said, "Those are the same."

Naruto grabbed Sasuke's arm, "I'm sorry," he said, "Let's get back to base, and we'll solve this together."

As the team arrived at the DZ, they saw Sai coming in for a landing.

Sai landed, and dropped the back gate.

Lee drove the JLTV into the back of the Valor, when they were in, Lee jumped out, ran up to the cockpit, and exclaimed, "Close the door, and go!"

As the Valor's back gate closed, lifted, and took off, Sasuke fell back against the seat, "Holy shit man," he said, "That was intense."

"Feels good to be back in the shit," Naruto asked, "With us grunts?"

"You're far from a grunt brother," Sasuke said, "What do you say we get you home?"

"I'm down with that," Naruto said, "I wouldn't mind going for a beer."

"I'll go for that," Sasuke said, "They have a bar back at base?"

"Hell yea it does." Naruto said.

 _Guess what happens next…_


	3. Back on Base

**Part 3 – Back at Base**

Twelve hours later, the Valor was arriving back at base, a crowd gathered as the gates opened revealing Naruto leaning on Sasuke's side in a human crutch carry.

Sasuke and Naruto walked forward as the soldiers clapped.

The two walked up to Tsunade who smiled, "Consider me impressed," Tsunade said, "Let's get him to the medics."

Sasuke carried Naruto behind Tsunade to the medical station.

When they arrived, Sakura was waiting with the medical staff, and a five foot five Korean-Caucasian woman with long black hair and light purple eyes without any pupils.

"Naruto," the woman said as she ran into him.

"Hinata," Naruto said as he wrapped his free arm around her.

Sakura took Naruto from Sasuke who removed the headband and the solid eye.

"You look like hell." Tsunade said.

"I know." Sasuke said.

After Naruto was patched up, they all reported to Tsunade's office.

When they arrived, Naruto was sitting down with Kakashi, Sakura, and Hinata, "Please, take a seat gentlemen." Tsunade said.

As they sat down, Naruto looked over at Sasuke, "We were just going over the details of my rescue," Naruto said, then looked at Tsunade, "Ma'am."

"Naruto told me about the Kakhovs'ke Incident," Tsunade said, "How come you didn't tell us about this?"

"Because I don't like to talk about how I lost my brother," Sasuke said, "And the reason I left the military."

"The reason you left the Military is because of your brother?" Lee asked.

"Yes," Sasuke said, "He's been M.I.A. for the past five years."

"Tell us about it." Tsunade said.

"This is a painful subject for me," Sasuke said, "But ok."

"Keep it short." Tsunade said.

"I had been a Sergeant for little under a year now," Sasuke said, "It was my second year in the Rangers, during the Insurgency in Ukraine, the Ukrainian government called the U.S. for help, and we responded with weapons, vehicles, and even troops until it got to the point in which we were actively shooting at the insurgents. I had been enlisted in my big brother, Itachi's squad since I joined, and it was good, fighting alongside my brother got me the Medal of Honor."

"Skip ahead to the Incident." Tsunade said.

"I was getting to that," Sasuke snapped, "Sorry, this is a serious subject with me."

"Understandable," Tsunade said, "Keep going."

"Anyway, the Incident," Sasuke said, "We were dispatched on an intelligence gathering operation to a small area a couple miles outside of Enerhodar, near Dniprorudne. Reports were that the insurgents were using the Kakhovs'ke Reservoir to drop their troops behind our lines to sneak attack us."

"And?" Shino asked.

You looked around, and you could tell people were interested in the story.

"We got there, and we went on our patrol," Sasuke said, "It was snowing heavily. Eventually we came across this strange mist, cloudy as hell, and grey as ash. We thought it might be due to radiation left over from the Chernobyl Disaster, while the radiation has gradually died off, it still has some effects on the environment. Grey snow being one of them. It wasn't until we saw _them_ that we knew something was up."

"Well," Kakashi asked, "What happened?"

"It was a setup," Sasuke said, "The youngest one of us panicked, and opened fire on the figures in the mist. They jumped so high I lost track of them above us," he then pointed to the back of his head, "Someone hit me from behind, and I face-planted into the snow. I kept slipping in and out of consciousness but I saw my friends shooting at everything around me, I saw several of them fall to the ground, and above all, I saw _them_ , the same creatures that killed Naruto's unit in Tajikistan, I saw one of their patches. When I finally came too, the mist was gone, my entire squad was dead, and Itachi was missing."

"Shit man," Lee said, "I can see why you had that reaction when you saw them in Tajikistan."

"What happened after?" Sakura asked.

"I radioed in," Sasuke said, "When they picked me up there were so many questions I had. And they had a lot of questions, but after seeing our shoulder-camera footage, all suspicion turned away from me. The Army said they saw intelligence pictures of my brother in Paris, London, Tokyo, Bangkok, Singapore, and even New York, but there was no proof. After a year, Itachi's trail went cold, and he was gone. When I heard they stopped looking I resigned, I left for that island, and tried to make peace with my past."

"That's why you left," Sakura said, "You felt they gave up."

"They did," Sasuke said, "I tried to find him myself for a while, but everywhere he went, I had found there was no evidence."

"I'm sorry," Tsunade said, "I can't bring your brother back, but I can offer you a chance to get even. Join Konoha, and I'll see you get your revenge."

"You want me to sign up to a PMC," Sasuke asked, "If it means I can get payback, then you don't have to ask me twice."

"Great," Tsunade said, "I'm promoting you to the rank of Major, you and Naruto will take command of the base's primary strike forces."

"Really?" Sasuke asked.

"Yea," Tsunade said, "Naruto was the primary Major before you came along, and now here you are."

"Come on," Naruto said as he stood up, "Let's get a beer."

"Hell yea," Shino said as he slapped Sasuke on the back, "Come on Major."

Sasuke, Shino, and Lee went back to the main platform to a small door where upon entering there were several soldiers sitting down, laughing, drinking, and playing various types of games.

As they entered someone shouted, "TEN-HUT," and they all shot into attention.

"Thank you," Naruto said as he looked around at the men, "I am…"

"Sorry sir," one of the soldiers said, "But we weren't standing at attention for you."

Naruto looked at Sasuke, "As I was saying," Naruto said, "I am here on the invite of Major Uchiha, who will forthwith will be staying on base."

"Alright," someone exclaimed as everyone started clapping.

Shino, Naruto, and Lee brought Sasuke back to their booth in the corner while everyone sitting down started talking about him being on the base.

One of the bartenders came over, she was very beautiful, about five foot three, long blonde hair tied up in a pony-tail, and had very pale bluish-green eyes with no pupils.

"Shino, Naruto Lee," Ino said before her attention went to Sasuke, "Sorry sir," she salted Sasuke like a true soldier would salute a General, "I didn't see you there."

"At ease," Sasuke said, "I'm off duty, no need to salute me."

"Of course," Ino said, "What can I get you boys?"

"Three beers." Shino said.

"Make it four," Sai said as he walked up behind Ino, "Hey babe."

"Sai," Ino said as she looked back, and smiled.

"Mind if I join you guys?" Sai asked.

"Sure," Lee said as he motioned to the seat next to him.

"And for you, sir," Ino asked as Sai sat next to Lee.

"Whiskey," Sasuke said, "Make it a double."

"Coming right up," Ino said as she walked back to the bar to get the drinks.

After returning, and setting their drinks down, Sasuke raised his glass, "Job well done." He said.

"Job well done," everyone said as they held up their drinks.

Sasuke downed the drink in one gulp, and placed it on the table.

After a few drinks, Sasuke was escorted to the Commanding Officer Quarters section of the base.

It was a little curious why his name was on the face of the door, but then again, he wasn't complaining, he took the clearance card he got when he signed up, inserted it into the card slot, and unlocked the door.

As he entered he saw the room was pretty well equipped, a bed, a full bathroom, a California King sized bed, a desk, and a good view out of the window.

Shrugging off his jacket, and hanging it up in his closet which was already full of his things, he walked into his bathroom where he shrugged off the rest of his clothes, and stepped into the shower.

As he took his shower, the images from the previous day still rang strongly in his mind.

Those creatures in the mist, who did they work for, did they even have a master, and what were they?

He decided to sleep on it, while he slept on it, he started thinking about that battle years ago, his brother missing, the speculation by the Army, and the internal struggle to do something while his brother probably rotted away in some hellhole where the fed him dog food.

The next morning, Sasuke awoke to find Naruto waiting for him, "Morning," he said as he walked up to his friend.

"The doctor cleared you?" Sasuke asked.

"Sakura gave me a clean bill of health," Naruto said, "I'm back on duty, all thanks to you."

"What are brothers for?" Sasuke asked.

"Come on," Naruto said, "Let's get some breakfast."

Sasuke and Naruto walked into the mess hall, when they entered someone exclaimed, "Ten-Hut!"

Everyone in the Mess-Hall shot into attention, "At ease," Sasuke said as he waved his hand.

Sasuke and Naruto chose their breakfast, for Sasuke a pair of waffles with a two sausage patties on top, and smothered in cream gravy.

For Naruto a traditional Japanese breakfast of a rolled omelet with a side of rice.

As they were eating, Shino and Lee joined them, "Majors," he said, "We wondered if you two were in here."

"This was one of Naruto's favorite places back in College," Sasuke said, "I'm surprised this isn't the one place you can always find him on base.

"Really?" Shino asked.

"By the way Major," Lee said, "We were wondering if you wouldn't mind showing us a few pointers."

"We? You mean you," Shino asked, "You want him to show you a few pointers on how to be a better shot."

"I don't mind," Sasuke said, "After breakfast we'll head to the range."

After the four of them had finished breakfast, they walked to the range.

The men grabbed their weapons, Sasuke's M1911, Shino's M9A3, Lee's Glock 19, and Naruto grabbed a Sig Sauer P226.

As the four stood in line at the range, they fired.

Sasuke ran out of ammo first, but the proof was in the pudding: four shots in the chest, three in the head.

Naruto managed to shoot the target everywhere that would kill a man.

Shino managed to hit the target in various areas around the target, but he was not as bad as Lee.

Lee's bullets were more spread-out, and a few of them didn't even make it into the black area of the target.

"Ok," Sasuke said as he took Lee's target, "As we can see, you need to work on your accuracy."

"I know." Lee said.

"Alright," Sasuke said as he pointed at the new target, "We're going to reset," he handed Lee's unloaded Glock back to him, "Show me how you handle the gun."

Lee walked up to the target, he held his right hand straight out, and his left arm was sort of chicken-winged (by that I mean it was rather severely bent outwards).

"This is going to be great." Shino said.

"Ok, here's your first problem," Sasuke said as he tapped Lee's left arm, "This chicken-wing grip won't work," he took Lee's Glock from his hand, "What you want to do is get into a position where the recoil is going to be absorbed by the shoulders," he waved his hand over his shoulders, "What you want to do first, is get a good stance," he stood with his legs slightly bent, and facing straight forward, "Then a grip where the recoil isn't going to be as severe," he held the Glock in both hands with his shoulders locked, and his arms fully extended, "Something like this," he handed the Glock back to Lee, and a full-magazine, "Now try."

Lee took aim using the same stance Sasuke showed him, and there was an improvement, the grouping of his shots was a big tighter.

"See," Sasuke asked as he held up the target, "Much better."

A few hours later, the team gathered in the briefing room where Tsunade was waiting, "It seems that tip you gave us about Kyoto was right Uchiha," she said, "We did a little research on the Gears. Ever since the collapse of the system, the United States has decided to sell off some of their surplus Gekkos."

"Why would they do that?" Naruto asked.

"Because they didn't remove the old A.I. that controlled the Gekkos before the system was hacked by Liquid Ocelot," Sasuke said, "They just rewrote it in order to not piss off the contractor that made the Gekkos."

"Why?" Sakura asked.

"Because the contract that makes the Gekkos also makes 45% of the U.S. Army's pistols, shotguns, rifles, and machine guns," Sasuke said, "If he learned that they scrapped the Gekkos altogether, he could tear up his contract with the U.S. Army, and the U.S. would lose a valuable contract, and they cannot afford to appear weak."

"That's correct Major," Tsunade said, "So they rewrote the system. However, most of that old A.I.'s system still remains. We managed to get in touch with the company that shipped the packages, and we found where they went, a small mountain town in Tajikistan. They've agreed to pay big if we find who fooled them into committing fraud."

"Then let's get a move on." Sasuke said.

Sasuke got dressed in his battle attire, while he was on the VTOL Naruto noticed he was scrapping the polymer around the steel toe off with his knife.

"What are you doing?" Naruto asked.

"Something I learned a few years ago," Sasuke said as he inserted the magazine into his rifle, checked the action, and with one simple slap, the magazine fell out of the rifle onto the floor, "Doing this allows for faster reloading which means less time worrying."

As they were preparing their weapons, Tsunade walked up to the entrance to the VTOL, "I just got word from our Agents back in Tajikistan," she said, "Word about Naruto's rescue has reached the Akatsuki. In short, they're going to be on a heightened sense of alert."

"Which means getting to those shipping labels is going to be even more difficult." Naruto said.

"Thank you," Sasuke said, "We'll be careful."

"Good lucky boys." Tsunade said.

Guess what happens next…


End file.
